Harrison and the Librarians
by TwinTigerLover
Summary: What if the HP story was set thousands of yours ago, when Magic still ran ramped but with the death of King Arthur magic began to fade, leaving only the antient artefacts. What happened to Harry/Harrison, who didn't die of old age or with Magic. What happens with the oldest mage alive crosses path with the Library, the home of the 'protectors' of magic.
1. Introducing Librarians or Arthurs secret

**Chapter 1: Introducing Librarians or Arthurs secret**

**AN and Disclaimer: new story crossing the Librarian TV series from ABC/TNT and Harry Potter (or rather I'm using J.K's character and some of her plots) this is based in the Librarian universe. I've got a few chapters written up but it's going to take a while to get far on this a the Scripts online are rather inaccurate which means re-watching every episode as I go, for the details. **

**Also for those that read/followed and favourited ****_Old scars, new home _****I have removed it to do some series correction and to finish. I don't know how long it will take as I lost motivation a long time ago. It might never return. ****_Who is she?_**** is also under revision but does not need as much work. **

**This story has a low rating for the moment as nothing particularly bad happens and the only WARNING is some paragraphs may contain violence, not much and not very detailed. **

Chapter 1: Introducing Librarians or Arthurs Secret

I was used to the comings and goings from the lab, so much so that I was actually oblivious to it most of the time. I focused on my work and nothing else. But lately unknown individuals had started infiltrating the lab in an attempt to harm (or kill) me. This had forced me to become more aware of my surroundings and when a stranger entered the lab, as opposed to the normal lab rats that came and went. Because, sooner or later, someone would come along that I wasn't able to disable or otherwise stop.

It was because of this awareness of the people coming and going from the lab that I noticed the strangers immediately. There were two of them, a man and a woman. The man had mousy brown hair, was relatively tall and was dressed like a stereotypical professor although his body language and the suppressed energy indicated all the traits of a mad genius.

The woman stood straight, shoulders back and was displaying the situational awareness of a soldier. She was about the same height as the man, perhaps a little bit taller, had blonde hair which was pulled back into a tight bun so as to keep it out of her way, and it also gave her a serious air. One of command. This was clearly a soldier who was used to being obeyed – perhaps a captain or colonel.

Since they were on the other side of the sealed lab doors and were making no threatening moves, I took the time I needed to secure my equipment and turn everything off. If this did turn into a fight, the last thing I needed was for someone to fall into something and ruin hours' worth of work. Or, if this didn't turn into a fight, and I was required to leave the lab for an extended period of time, I didn't want some bumbling idiot or lab assistant messing up my work or destroying my equipment.

Once everything was secured, I stepped out of the lap and into the secure area where all the safety equipment was placed. The left-hand side was for used coats, and for the binning of gloves, while the right-hand side was for new/cleaned lap coats and brand new gloves. Their full-body suits were also in a locker on that side of the secured area. At the end of every day, a team would come in and dispose of the medical gloves, and take the coats to be cleaned along with the goggles.

"Harrison Black?" The man asked, leaning casually against the door frame.

"That depends on who's asking?" I countered moving out of the secured area and into the main workroom which was where most of the paperwork was filled in. it also connected to the other laboratories on this floor. Along the far wall was a storage place for coats and bags, which was where I headed in order to pick up my coat.

"The Librarian," The man answered and I felt the slight wave of magic that accompanied the title. Whoever managed to be accepted by The Library needed to go places without having to deal with questions from authority figures, and so the title came with some power that encouraged people to come up with their own explanation as to why a librarian would be there. It didn't always work, normally because The Librarian hadn't been fully accepted by the Library or the situation they were dealing with placed them in direct contact with the bad or the evil.

My muscles tensed at that. I thought turning the last Letter down would be the end of it. It had been ten years since that letter had come through my door, so why would the Librarian suddenly be looking for me now. I hadn't done anything to attract the attention of the Library and I would know if there was any unusual magical artefacts at work in my local environment. The only thing new in my life were the attacks. So did that have something to do with it? It was highly unlikely that the men with serpent tattoos were connected with the library, which meant they were enemies of the library. But that didn't answer the question of why I was targeted.

"You here about the people who want me dead?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the librarian in a challenging manner.

"I should have guessed that you would already know." The Librarian admitted, while the women – his guardian – responded at the same time with a question.

"Wait, you know about the threat to your life?"

"You going to come with us, back to the Library?" the Librarian asked.

"That depends," I pulled my coat on. "How much am I going to be told?" I challenged him. My path had crossed with the Librarians on many occasions over the centuries but I normally stayed on the sidelines. I never really wanted to get pulled into that world fully. our interactions had decreased considerably since the world wars. There wasn't anything left of my people to interfere with the Library so I stayed out of it. The Librarians appreciated my distance as they didn't particularly trust me or want me involved anyway.

The Librarian smiled and bounced forward happily. "Oh, not told," he paused for what appeared to be dramatic effect. "No, I'll show you."

I rolled my eyes but followed the duo from the lab. Why was it that every time I interact with a Librarian they came across as being slightly deranged, and overly energetic? Maybe it was one of the required traits to succeed in the position.

**Twintigerlover **

**So that's my opening. I always appreciate feedback especially early on in a story to see where people would like them to go.**

**update edit 15/03/2020**


	2. Transdimensional space at the Metropolit

**An: see chapter 1. thanks to DrayvenDrake, Jollygreen483, rockstarmarie and Harriet Noir, who at some absurd time last night read my first chapter and pointed out the error within chapter 2. this is my second attempt at posting this. **

* * *

The Librarian and his Guardian, Flynn Carsen and Eve Baird left Harrison in the metropolitan library with Charlene while they went in search of other people who were apparently in danger. While he waited he simply read a book from the shelves, even when joined by another individual – Cassandra – he decided not to actively interact with her. Cassandra kept wandering around the room they had been placed in with Charlene (who was balancing the accounting books), and from the random tangents of knowledge and the way she kept swiping at the air, she was experiencing visual illusions. The comments about tastes and smells, also indicated that the visual illusions were linked with her other senses which indicated that she was a synesthete. Since Harrison wasn't interacting with her, Cassandra ended up asking Charlene a series of questions that the women mostly ignored or sidestepped.

Eventually, the Librarian and Guardian returned, each leading a different person. Jacob Stone and Ezekiel Jones were apparently the last of the people that the Librarian believed were under threat because the Librarian disappeared off into the library with Charlene while Eve Baird introduced everyone before leading them into a lift that was hidden behind a bookshelf.

"We're going down." Stone noticed seeing the numbers flicking by very quickly. Jacob Stone was from Oklahoma, his old town country accent was very pronounced. Despite his simple background, Stone was a scholar with a focus on art, culture and history.

"Really far down." Jones agreed, looking around himself at the rapidly flickering lights. Ezekiel Jones was the youngest of the group at 26. He was of Australian descent and had dark features indicative of the amount of time he spent in the sun. He was the only one of the three potential librarians that had met Harrison before. As the best thief in the world, he had crossed paths with Harrisons more financially influential identity. He would often let Ezekiel steal whatever he was after, then buy it back under a different name. It was a good partnership, even if Ezekiel didn't recognise Harrison dressed as he was.

Eventually, they stopped and the lift opened to reveal the Library. Ezekiel whistled at the sheer size of the library as they descended the marble steps which were boarded by golden lion statues. Cassandra giggled while she looked around herself in amazement.

"You've got to be kidding me." Jacob exclaimed, spinning in a full circle.

"Not kidding." Flynn announced in a sing-song, as he motioned the group to join him between the arc of the covenant and the spear of Destiny. And what looked like Pandora's Box. "But we don't have a lot of time. So, questions... ask them."

"Is that the Spear of Destiny?" Jacob demanded pointing to said object.

"Yes."

"Ark of the covenant?" Jacob pointed to the next object.

"Yes."

"Wait." Cassandra interrupted. "What about Bigfoot and Dracula?"

"Yes and no. Yes, on Bigfoot." Flynn gave more than a one-word answers this time as he started walking, the group following him into the bookshelves with Eve at Flynn's side.

"So, vampires aren't real?" Ezekiel asked with a tone of voice that suggested he wasn't sure if he wanted that to be true or not.

"Vampires are real, but Dracula is not, because I killed him." Flynn twisted around to face Eve. "Is this helping? I don't know that it is."'

"10 years ago, each of you received an envelope inviting you to apply for a position here in this library, but you never showed." Baird decided to bring them back to the topic.

"10 years ago, I was in a hospital." Cassandra admitted distracted, there was a sharp inhale of breath from Flynn. Harrison just nodded. Made sense, she properly had some form of damage to the brain, an impact trauma or tumour causing her sensory information to become cross-wired. That was normally how synesthetes came to be.

"Right, with your tumour." Flynn announced aloud. "Um..." he paused at her surprised look and started explaining. "Synesthetes rarely have all five senses involved. You've got full-on hallucinations and seizures, indicative of a frontal-lobe anomaly, oligodendroglioma." He shrugged before becoming a little more sensitive as he asked his next question. So not as disconnected from the social world as Harrison had initially pegged him. "How big is it?"

"It's about the size of a grape." She pinched her fingers together. "Which I really wish they hadn't told me, 'cause I used to really like grapes."

"Are you..." Ezekiel started to ask, before pausing as he realised that was likely to be a very insensitive and invasive question.

"Not yet." Cassandra got where he was going with his question and smiled "Someday. Sooner than I'd like, but not yet. But I lived long enough to learn that magic exists. So, that's pretty cool."

"Very cool." Eve smiled at Cassandra and moved the topic back to her question. "Stone, why didn't you show up?"

"'Cause I already had a job, family business." He shrugged as the group started walking again having stopped when Flynn slipped up with the tumour information.

"I threw mine out." Ezekiel answered the question with a laugh. "It was obviously a mistake. I steal stuff. I've been stealing stuff since I was a kid. I'm not gonna get invited to work at a library."

"It is a magic library." Cassandra pointed out.

"Eh, great. It doesn't fill my pocket. I came here to find out who's trying to kill me." Ezekiel responded. Well, at least one other person had their priorities straight.

"If magic's real, how come we don't see it all the time?" Jacob asked.

Harrison happily let the topic turn towards getting answers. He didn't particularly feel like explaining why he didn't turn up for the interview to three complete strangers. Flynn clearly knew who he was and had properly guessed why he didn't turn up. By mutual agreement the Library and it's Librarians didn't hassle him and Harrison left the remaining magic of the world alone unless they really needed his help.

Flynn dramatically pushed open a set of double glass doors which led to a separate part of the library. It was a wide open area with two desks on one side of the room, a wide square table in the middle and an elegant staircase which led to a second floor, balcony type thing. There were bookshelves on the second floor and what appeared to be card catalogues running up the stairs.

Cassandra, Jacob and Ezekiel stared around the room in wonder before Flynn brought their attention back to him by beginning his explanation. Harrison moved to lean against one of the desks, happy to just listen and take everything in.

"Once upon a time, the world was filled with magic. It travelled along a power network called Ley Lines." He tossed an orb up into the air, where it suspended itself and opened to show the globe lit by different lines of blue. "See the Ley Lines, see the magic. Over the centuries, the magic was drained off and stored into artefacts."

"Like Excalibur." Eve seemed happy to understand what Flynn was explaining.

"Exactly. He was one of the most powerful." Flynn ignored the questioning 'he' in return, as he continued his explanation. "The magic continued to fade as cities were constructed over the Ley Lines and technology began to advance. And, as you can see now, there's very little magic left. My job is to make sure that what remains doesn't fall into the wrong hands." The orb fell and was caught by Flynn. "Like the people who tried to kill the four of you."

"The woman who tried to kill Stone had a snake tattoo." Eve pointed out.

"Yes, most of the people that come after me had a coiled serpent on their upper arm, the more skilled ones had some Latin verse as well." Harrison inputted to the conversation since they were now talking about something that was useful. The three Librarian rejects looked surprised for a moment, either having forgotten Harrison was present or they just assume he wasn't going to contribute to the conversation.

"Serpent brotherhood... an ancient cult bent on bringing magic back into the world. I've fought them before." Flinn turned his back on the group, thinking. This allowed the other three the opportunity to look at the bullet board they were hovering around.

"What did Professor Sheir find that pushed the brotherhood to kill him, then murder their way down the list?" Baird questioned.

"Still vexing." Flynn leaned against the table with a thrown.

"Does it have anything to do with this painting?" Jacob asked, pointing at a photograph that was resting among the documents on the long table. "'Crown of King Arthur'?" Harrison looked up from his hands and over to the board as Flynn rushed over. Oh, we were in some serious trouble if someone wanted to get a hold of one of Arthur's legendary pieces.

"What?!" Flynn laughed in exasperation. "Crown of King Arthur? You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Crown of King Arthur was forged by Merlin to give Arthur control over the magic that he needed to build Camelot." Flynn explained.

The Crown was more than just an artefact that allowed Arthur to control the magic that he needed to build Camelot. The crown allowed Arthur to protect his people against the wild magic that had been prevalent in that time, causing damage to the land and being used by practitioners to great harm. It was the reason Arthur could bring together the divided lands and bring relative peace to his people.

"So, the brotherhood wants to bring magic back, but they need the crown to control it." Eve asked, trying to clarify what was going on. "Cannot believe I just said that with a straight face."

"Um, why is bringing magic back bad?" Cassandra asked. "'Cause magic seems pretty cool."

"Magic is cool, till warring nations drown each other in tidal waves of blood or use dragons to burn cities to the ground. Magic used well can be good, but a world of wild magic is full of chaos and suffering. I will begin by exa..." Flynn took the photo of the Crown of King Arthur from Jacob when the man picked it up. "I will begin by examining the original painting."

"Well, I just said that I remember that it was called 'the crown of King Arthur.'" Jacob pointed out. "It's an unknown artist. I don't know where that thing's at." He shrugged.

"Munich museum of history and art." Ezekiel jumped in. Knowing where valuable artefacts resided was basically his area of expertise. "Oh, I cased it last month for a heist, memorized the inventory." Ezekiel explained when he got surprised looks from the majority of the room.

"That's why they were targeted." Eve clapped her hands at the group. "You were busy doing whatever Librarians do…"

Flynn took offence to Eve's flippant statement about his job. "Saving the world... a lot."

"And they... the other Librarians..." she ignored him.

"Not Librarians." Flynn muttered. "I'm the only Librarian. ..."

"…were the people most likely to find the crown. The Brotherhood was just trying to wipe out the competition." She finished, not caring about Flynn's pout.

"I say we beat them to it." Jacob proposed.

"Fair enough." Ezekiel agreed. "Nobody tries to stab Ezekiel Jones in the back."

Harrison smiled at Ezekiel's third-person reference. This was something he noticed Ezekiel do in the past, especially when he was being boastful or talking about how amazing he was.

"If it stops people from trying to kill me." Harrison shrugged indifferently. If going after the Crown and putting it somewhere the Brotherhood couldn't access meant they would give up on their plans to kill him, then he was willing to help. Even if it got him involved with the Library.

"I've never been to Europe, so..." Cassandra stated her agreement with a leading statement.

"Uh, first of all, no." Flynn waved his hand at Jacob. "Second of all, let's not refer to ourselves in the third person." this time he addressed Ezekiel as he started walking towards the door. "Europe is overrated. And I work alone. So, if you'll excuse me... Goodbye."

"Unh-unh." Eve stopped Flynn from walking away. "I got an envelope. The Library invited me to this party, and I'm taking them to Munich." She started marching from the room. "Maybe we'll see you there. Do try to keep up."

"Excuse me." Jacob walked by Flynn. Ezekiel offered a shrug as he walked past the man.

"Sorry," Cassandra scouted around the man.

"Sometimes, it's better to just give in." Harrison shrugged at the Librarian as he walked passed the man. Surely after ten years, he would know it wasn't a good idea to argue with his guardian? Even if this Guardian was relatively new to the job.

**Twintigerlover**

**So, let's hope that this one actually posts. **

A**ny questions for me? Suggestions and corrections (be nice)? **

**updated 15/03/2020**


	3. Find the Crown Almost

**AN: The disclaimer remains the same, a minor violence scene is present but not much description. this is a very tame story for now. **

H**ay! look I updated within the week. I honestly don't see this happening for very long. Enjoy whilst it last. **

_**last time**_

_"__Uh, first of all, no." Flynn waved his hand at everyone. "Second of all, let's not refer to ourselves in the third person. Europe is overrated. And I work alone. So, if you'll excuse me... Goodbye." He went to walk away. _

_"__Unh-unh." Eve stopped him. "I got an envelope. The Library invited me to this party, and I'm taking them to Munich." She started walking the rest of us following. "Maybe we'll see you there. Do try to keep up."_

**Munich museum of history and art **

It was an interesting trip to Germany. Flynn seamed adamant we all return to the Library for safety whilst Eve and Jacob argued back on the five of ours behaves. Most of the way I just contemplated why the Library wanted me to be a librarian in the first place, sure I was smart \, loved reading a good book and knew magic, but logic and History weren't my thing really. I was a physical, take-action and work it out as I went kind of person. Based on the other three potential librarians and the librarian himself, that was not the normal criteria of a librarian.

We had just entered the museum, Ezekiel in the lead, as Flynn had given up about an hour ago on our presence, asked a valid question.

"So, why is a British painting doing in a German museum?" the answer was silence. Not even Jacob, the art expert knew the answer to that.

The painting was placed almost dead centre of the museum, having not even turned the corner to get to the painting, Eve veered off, we all let her go or had not even noticed too drawn in by the painting. In all honesty I think Flynn, Ezekiel and I were the only ones to notice.

"The Crown of King Arthur. Artist unknown. Painted in 1146. Installed as one of the original pieces in this museum in 1546." Jacob was smiling happily at the painting next to Flynn whilst Cassandra and Ezekiel moved closer to look at it. "Look at the swords on the knights. Roman short swords. Arthur's wearing the equipment of a Roman legionnaire. It's the Roman hypothesis." The two boys seamed a little too happy to have some more evidence to prove the theory. It was a little foolish to be honest. I'm pretty sure the painting in front of them was a fact. The design wasn't quite indicative of the time it was painted. The colours were too bright. I couldn't recall anything other than gems looking like that in the 12th century.

"The theory is that when the Roman Empire fell, the Roman legion stationed in Britain stayed behind. Camelot as a city, armoured warriors, legionnaires. It all fits." Flynn though aloud. Concluding it with Jacob. "Arthur was a Roman."

Then Jacob went serious again. "Yeah. There's only one problem. The painting's a fake." He walked forward to point at one of the figures in the picture. "Look. This colour red... it's a dye. It's called carmine. It was discovered in like the 1500s. Painting can't be as early as 1100. Also, odd..." He tried shifting the frame. "it can't be moved. This frame's anchored into the beam. You'd have to smash down this wall to move it."

"1011010. There's a binary code engraved into the frame that you can't move." Cassandra asked the group.

"Who cares?" Ezekiel asked.

"That's not... the point is, is that this is a..." Jacob tried, but Ezekiel picked up on the security around them as a little bit odd.

"Oh, no, this type of security is not used in Europe. It's the most basic sequence in all of math."

"Okay, okay. Enough, enough!" Flynn stopped the three from making any further observations. "Shh! It's like listening to the inside of my own head... Except louder." He turned his back for a moment before thinking a loud, in case he missed anything. "We have a fake painting. Why is it a fake? Because it's meant as a message, not art. And it's in a frame that can't be moved, which means that the frame's location in this museum is important. And it has a code in it. A coordinate code, leading you... somewhere. But it requires a key, some sort of reference point. Like a fixed point in space. Like a painting that can't be moved. The entire museum is the key. The dimensions of the floors, the rooms in the museum as they relate to where the painting is. That's the key to the code. Leading where? Let's find out." They took off at a run, heading straight out of the building.

"There!" Flynn ran his hand along a stone pedestal that was half a mile outside of the museum. "Latin. 'The crown of the Celts lies 70 leagues to the great woods.' And then there's some coordinates. This means... The crown of King Arthur is real. And it's buried in the black forest." Flynn smiled, turning to face the group and without missing a beat, managed to annoy Eve who had just joined them as he translated the Latin riddle. "Well, where have you been? Some very exciting stuff's going on here."

Eve opted to ignore the Librarian.

**Munich, Black Forest **

Through the endless resources of the Library or rather the money conscious Charlene, saw them in a small run down, off-road truck, trekking through the black forest. Unfortunately, it was only a five-person vehicle, so I ended up on the outside of the truck, holding onto the roof bar and stood on the steps to get into the back.

"Whoa!" Flynn brought them to stop about an hour into the forest. "We're close. We can walk from here." We all jumped out.

"Okay, I think, first, maybe we should probably just stop and snack and hydrate. I packed some sandwiches and some cucumbers and crackers and some delicious prosciutto." Cassandra bounced happily. That was the only good thing about being on the outside of the truck, Harrison couldn't actually hear her constant chatter.

"People are trying to kill us, and you brought a picnic." I asked incredulously. Noticing the slight crackle, maybe I should talk more. The long periods of silence were starting to affect the way I talked.

"Hey. We're on an adventure, traveling down bad roads in a crappy truck. This sure beats my day job..." they were heading into the forest properly now, not taking up Cassandra's offer of snacks. "Of traveling down bad roads in a crappy truck." Jacob was going for upbeat and happy and ended up depressing himself, very well done.

A helicopter blades whirring stopped anyone from replying.

"The serpent brotherhood. They have a helicopter." Jacob asked in disbelief before turning to Flynn. "Why don't we have a helicopter?"

"Didn't you know?" I acted surprised. "the bad guys always have more money. They don't have to watch how they spend it." There was a deep level of sarcasm in my voice that the others seamed to miss.

"Because we have a Charlene, who approved a budget for one rental car." Flynn also explained, sending me a sideways look. Alright, so maybe one person got the sarcasm. "Doesn't matter, doesn't matter. We still have the advantage, because all the clues for the crown's location will be down here on ground level."

"They have a helicopter and are trained killers. You and I have very different definitions of 'advantage.'" Ezekiel snipped in concern.

Sometime, during the walk Eve and Flynn ended a little ahead of the group. Leaving me to the mercy of bored inquisitive minds.

"So, why didn't you turn up for the interview. You never said." Jacob asked.

"Oh, that's right. What's your excuse?" Cassandra bounced. Ezekiel just wondered a little closer.

"No, I suppose I didn't, did I?" I thought about it for a while. Whilst I could lie something was telling me that this little adventure wasn't going to be the end of it. The Library didn't get you involved for one off quests. "I was already aware of the Library when the Letter was sent to me. It was not the first time our paths had crossed. I made the decision that I was not ready or willing to take up any potion within the library walls." I settled on, it covered the question without saying anything at all.

"Wait, you knew about magic!" Cassandra demanded.

"yes." I smiled at her, then sped up a little as Flynn started running calling something about a Henge. I did enjoy leaving people wondering, a little bit of mystery never hurt anyone. It also covered all my bases because if this quest did not end up being the last one then I had a cover story in place.

"A Henge! This is unheard of in this part of the world. This is the second clue to the burial place of the crown." This wasn't like the Henge in England, this one only had three arced stone and four single up right beams of stone. Two half columns lay on the floor. It was a mini Henge.

Helicopter blades whirring off to the side. The brotherhood had a general location. Or just figured they would follow us till we found the crown. It was a sound plan.

"You solve this. I'll go stall them." Eve ordered, heading toward the sound of the helicopter. "I'm your guardian... for now."

"You're not my guardian." Flynn responded automatically. He really had a thing against her being a guardian. Maybe he had one before. He has been the Librarian for ten years. It's quite a record. "Take Ezekiel with you." Yes, he definitely had a Guardian before. He was concerned about losing Eve and he hadn't even accepted her.

"Astrological symbology in Latin." Flynn identified writing on the stone. 'When the sun passes through, upon the fourth day after solstice'... It's like Stonehenge. The light only comes through certain openings, certain hours, on certain days. In fact, there's only one day a year where you can read it. And that day... Is not today." He leant against one of the stones. Flynn was certainty one for dramatics' it wasn't helping his mad genius vibe.

"Maybe we can re-create the sun's path." Jacob offered.

"Well, over several days, months apart, I could triangulate each position." He though a moment. "I can do that math… It's gonna take me a while."

"It won't take me a while." Cassandra moved to the middle of the Henge. "Where are we?"

"In the black forest."

"No." Flynn corrected Jacob. "She means 84.3 degrees north, 18.5 degrees east."

"At solstice, light is 52.5 degrees. Sun's on the ecliptic... 23.5 degrees off the celestial equator. Equator, equator. Solstice degrees add latitude, then subtract 1 degree a day." She started to rattle off. Raising her hands in the air.

"Cassandra?" Flynn asked concerned.

I moved forward and wrapped an arm round her waist. She hadn't learnt how to ground herself. Let's hope I could ground her same way I used to ground my moon. She once struggled with her mind growing up, people thought she was mental, but Harrison had looked past that and to what she could be.

"Yes. 48.5 degrees... Over that rock. How high is that rock?" she asked, not really focusing.

"About 9 feet." Jacob told her.

"9 feet. 3 meters. Cosine... 48.5 degrees. Times 48.5 degrees. The shadow ends there." Pointed out the shadows path, leaning back against my support.

"It's Venus beneath the harvest moon." Flynn told her.

"Venus' transgression across the sky at this latitude. It's on a 15-degree arc. This part of the world, the harvest would be a late-October festival. October. Stars. The Orionid meteor shower from Halley's comet."

"Cassandra?" Jacob asked again.

"No. Don't. I can't stop."

"I know." I rasped gently, guiding her to the ground. "take it slow, don't rush. Each step at a time. Focus on the one thing, then the next."

"Venus is over this rock in late October. Line it up!"

"But the two months march past the rise of spring as the rise of kings." Jacob reads the next part of the riddle

"Vernal equinox. Sun crosses the equator. 90 degrees. Latitude plus... 60 degrees. Rising. It's rising, rising, rising. Rising into aphelion, farthest from the sun in summer." Cassandra laughs, then shakes her head. "No! That's funny."

"What's going on?" Jacob asked.

"It's summer smells. It's oranges."

"Cassandra focus on me, I need you to focus on the memory you associated with the oranges. Put it into context Cassandra." I continued guided softly.

"It's breakfast." She tells him.

"good. What happened at breakfast?"

"I'm... 12."

"Go right there. Lock in on that."

"My dad's doing the bills, and I balanced the check-book in my head. He's so proud of me. They're both so proud of me." Cassandra pulled herself out of the images and memories with a smile.

"very good."

"Got it!" Flynn called pointing down to a small section of the final rock Cassandra had pointed at. I stood, leaving Jacob to help Cassandra up, from where he had knelt next to her earlier. Maybe next time Jacob could help ground her instead of me. I was not prepared mentally for this reminder.

"That's old iron. I can cut through it with a welding torch. I don't suppose you packed one of those, did you?" Jacob commented after examining the small door in the rock. It was very well hidden.

"Actually, Cassandra did. In the truck, there's an oxygen tank in the first-aid kid." Flynn explained. Then looked at Jacob. "Would you mind?" Jacob grumbled but went to get the oxygen tank, first-aid kit and food from the truck.

"To sustain a flame, create the thermic lance, you need a high-energy medium. Most people would use metal, like magnesium, but a high-protein meat, like prosciutto, stuffed into a cucumber works just as well. Bacon would be better, but... Ready?" Flynn lit his make shift cutting tool and handed it to Jacob, who began melting through the metal. "Cutting tool... both effective and delicious. I'll be back" Flynn got up and ran in the direction Eve and Ezekiel went, crow-bar in hand.

"He just made a cutting torch out of a picnic lunch. This is exactly like my day job." Jacob shook his head but got to work.

Five minutes later there was a loud explosion of in the distance, shortly followed by the other half of the group reappearing at a run.

"Aah! Stone, how are we doing?" Flynn asking, skidding to a stop.

"I'm done!" the metal door sizzled, and the 'torch' stopped working.

**L****ibrary, the office**

The group had found their way back to America and the Library, crown in hand. "Congratulations. You just did something that no Librarian's been able to do in 1,000 years. You found the crown of King Arthur." Flynn nodded at us, once we were all back in his office.

"Not bad for their first..." Eve started.

"Only..." Flynn was making a habit of interrupting Eve.

"time out."

"What did you do on your first time out?" Jacob, was clearly the designated question master.

"I recovered the spear of destiny and stopped an extradimensional pyramid power from taking over the world."

"Now you're just showing off." Eve told him.

"Flynn? How did you become a Librarian?" Cassandra asked nervously.

"Uh, the previous Librarian... died." He seamed to hesitate over that. So, either he knew the last librarian, or he wasn't as dead as everyone had thought.

"So, if we're the last candidates, does one of us become the Librarian if you die?" she asked, gesturing to the four of us. I grimaced. I never wanted to be a part of the library, let alone a Librarian. I still wasn't sure if I was librarian material.

Flynn laughed, just as a sharp Alarm noise rang though the library. Flynn ran over to the mirror. "It's the perimeter alarm. Installed a new security system after the last break-in." he pulled the image of the brotherhood members entering the library.

"How long till they get past the elevators?" Eve demanded.

"Well, it's not just a secret door. It's an actual magical portal. There's no way that they can breach it, unless you disable it from the inside." He watched them step out of the elevator onto the golden steps guarded by the lions. "Somebody let them in?!" his voice was filled incredulous disbelief. He moved to the door with us right behind him. "Find the crown. The crown. Okay, everybody split up. Find Charlene. I'm going after the crown." He ordered about to move off, when Eve stopped him.

"I'm with you."

"I got my own backup!" Flynn whistled "'Cal, come!" he took Excalibur from the air. My lips twitched up at the sword, Excalibur was one of the most loyal of fighting partners.

"Is that a flying sword?" Jacob asked shocked.

"Of course, it is. Come on, old friend. Can't argue with that. Let's go." Ezekiel stirred Jacob off. The three of us also split to find Charlene as ordered.

I was at the corner of the books leading to the crown when I heard a woman talking. "Merlin forged this crown…" oh that's bad, the brotherhood had the crown and the only weapon Flynn had was Excalibur. No matter how skilled Flynn was. His connection to 'Cal will only last so long.

I stepped around the corner fully just as Excalibur was forced into the woman's hand. Cassandra was stood by too men and Flynn was unarmed at sword point. The woman wearing the crown was a well-built fighting and was holding Excalibur like she knew what she was doing.

I moved forward and parred her lung with my own sword that appeared at will. It fit perfectly in my hand, even after all these years. Flynn fell with a grown of pain, as Excalibur graced him, I wasn't quite fast enough.

"I would leave whilst you're on the up." I advised coolly. "Excalibur may not heal but you won't survive a poisons cut from Racun" the woman backed down.

"Tell Dulaque we have the key. We'll open the lock, and magic will return to the world." The woman ordered backing up. "First... kill the Librarian and the other one."

"Yes, ma'am." They unshifted their Knives. The minions weren't as clever as the woman. They were easily dispatched of as Eve and the other two boys arrived.

"Tell me again how you don't need a guardi..." Eve started, as she saw Harrison take the blokes out and him on the floor. "Flynn! That wound is bad." The woman had managed to slice his hip to centre. It was shallow but bleeding a far bit. It was a lesser wound to what she was aiming for.

"Excalibur." He gritted out, standing. "Lamia got the crown, and she had control over Excalibur."

"Let me treat the bleeding."

"You can't treat it." I told her, calling the sheaf forward for the sword and placing them on my hip. They might be needed again if Excalibur remains in this Lamia's hands. "wounds caused by magic can't be healed only slowed." Flynn nodded and managed to move off and towards the bookcase.

"I need, um..."

"W... what are you... wait! We got to go find Cassandra!" Jacob said.

"No. She's the one who let them in. Aah! Well, my lack of faith in humanity is restored." He pulled a bottle of liquid from a book and took a swig. He Shuddered "Ugh! Yeah, that's better. That helps the pain."

Eve pulled his shirt back "The bleeding stopped."

"Slowed, not stopped. Bathsheba's oil of healing. If it had been an ordinary wound, it would have stopped it, but it's a magical wound, so it's gonna slow it long enough so that we can find Charlene."

"I... I passed her in the shelves. She said, uh, something about meeting her deep in the library, something about the corridor of doors." Jacob said, Ezekiel nodded in agreement.

Bell tolled as they ran deep into the library. "What now?" Eve demanded.

"Four bells. I don't know. I've never been this deep in The Library before." Flynn responded.

"That's three bells."

"Charlene... she'll know what to do."

"She's not coming."

"All right, Judson. He's always here!"

"He's not coming!"

Two bells.

"Pick a door!" we ran for a dark brown door as crashing sounded. The library folded in on itself.

"What the hell? Judson?! Charlene?!" Flynn spun round himself as we reappeared in a forest.

"Where are we? When are we?"

"It's day."

"We time-travelled."

"Time travel. Ugh! Time travel's not all it's cracked up to be. Hey! Blood. Mine. It's crimson. I need to eat more calcium. Oof." Flynn leant against a tree, staring at the blood on his hands.

"I got cell service, American carrier." Eve had turned satnav on her phone.

"Of course. We didn't travel through time. We travelled through space. We came west. It's still night in New York. The sun's still up on the west coast."

"GPS coming online."

"Latitude would put us exactly... in..."

"Oregon."

"Oregon. See? I still got it. Ooh!" I shook my head at the back and forth. I wonder if they even realise it, but it was almost like they had been working together for months and not days.

"We got to get him to a hospital. Road's this way. Don't see a hospital, though." Eve started directing. Jacob and Ezekiel helping Flynn. I moved to stand with Eve.

"I know you don't want to hear this. But a hospital won't help." I told her evenly.

She didn't respond instead marching forward, leaving me to walk between too groups. I signed slightly, losing someone wasn't easy but denying it wasn't any better. it just makes the enviable harder. she wasn't used to magic though or it's injuries we could shout at each other for hours and she would still deny it until Flynn had no more time left.

"Hi." Eve said startled as we came to the road to find an older gentleman leaning on a car.

"Howdy. Your friend does not look well. You need a ride?" he asked evenly.

"I'm... I'm Colonel Eve Baird. Uh, do you mind if we explain in the car?" she asked as everyone moved round the car to get in.

"No need to talk. I hate to pry into people's business."

"What were you doing out here?"

"Waiting. I do that." He told us with a smile.

"Hang in there, Flynn." Eve turned to face Flynn from the front of the car, he was beginning to drift in and out of contuses.

"How far to the hospital?" she asked the man

"Hospital? Oh, no, no, no, no. Why would we take him to a hospital? We're almost there." The man was surprising de-panned. It was amusing.

"Wait, wait, wait. We need a hospital. He's been stabbed. He's bleeding out." Eve looked desperate. I wondered if she had ever lost someone under her command before.

"Hospital won't do him any good. Wounds caused by Excalibur don't heal. Magic."

Flynn pulled it together long enough to get back involved in the conversation. "So... Wait a second. How do you know about Excalibur? And how do you know about magic?" We had pulled up to a bridge that the man led them under.

"Aah! I know all about you, Flynn Carsen." He led them to a room that look very familiar but it was hard to tell with the lights off.

"I don't understand. What is this place? Who are you?"

"Jenkins, of course. As far as this place... Well..." Jenkins snapped his fingers lighting the room. "You're in The Library." Jacob and Ezekiel let go of Flynn who fell onto the floor unconscious

Eve had them lye him out on the table and tried to plug his wound.

"Aww. Say, you wouldn't happen to have a cold beer, would you?" Jacob asked Jenkins as he pulled out a tea tray.

"Uh, no, a... as this is the Library and not a rodeo or a hobo camp or wherever it is people like you gather in crowds."

"Mnh-mnh. Ow!" Flynn woke up.

"Don't... don't... don't... don't move too much."

"What are you stuffing that with? Duct tape? Glue?"

"Y... yes, actually. The bleeding won't stop."

"No, it won't stop. It's a magical wound from Excalibur." He sat up. "Oh! God! What... Oh!"

"Don't touch anything!" Jenkins snatched the lay-line hologram out of Jacobs hands. "This is my workplace, not Judson's, and I'm doing very important research."

"We're in The Library?" Flynn started to run around. I was starting to ignore the interactions around me. Focusing on my thoughts. He would realise soon enough what his mentors had done.

"I am afraid, as Judson has cut the connection of The Library to the physical world, this room is all we have. Access to information but no way in or out of the main Library. Ugh, typical Judson. So, rash." Jenkins made a vague guested of complaint as he stood by his desk.

"Hey, watch your tone when you speak about Judson." Flynn snapped.

"Well, Judson and I never agreed on anything. I mean, I realize that The Library is best used for research, not for gallivanting about," Flynn Scoffed at Jenkins. "fighting monsters, seducing princesses." I cracked a small smile at Jenkins remarks. He wasn't always like that, hiding away in research, it had taken seeing the interface to realise who this man was. Harrison himself was heading towards isolation and peace as well, sometimes people get a little too much.

"I'm guessing, with that attitude, that's why you're probably stuck out here in the annex, huh? Not at the home office?"

"Very happy here. It's quiet. I can focus on my work, not bothered by..."

"The greatest collection of magic in the world." Flynn finishes. "I should have seen it coming. Cassandra. They had leverage on her. Should have seen it. I should have seen all of it." Flynn drugged towards the stairs ignoring me, from where I was potion on the steps. "Why didn't Judson warn me?"

"Maybe Judson trusted you to figure it out on your own." Eve tried.

"How could I not see that they were killing Librarians? People are dead because I just wasn't good enough." Flynn was almost to the top of the stairs.

"You're opening your wound."

"It doesn't matter. It's a magical wound. It won't ever heal. I'm going to die. Tell them." Flynn instructed Eve, waving at the room.

"Tell me what?" Jacob demanded.

"I can pump him full of fluids, but if he keeps bleeding..." Eve hesitated as Flynn disappeared behind the bookcases.

"24 hours." I stood and strode to the door, filling them in as he left. "He's dead in 24 hours." Another person I had started to like but was going to die, it was typical.

**Annex, Jenkin's Office **

"I never thought you'd step foot in The Library?" Jenkins said from behind Harrison.

"I wasn't." Harrison admitted, he had found his way into Jenkins experiment room and was just staring at the roof from his work bench. "then the Brotherhood kept trying to kill me."

Jenkins chuckled and moved round to face Harrison, joining him in gazing at the remarkable bland roof.

"Yes, I suppose that would force your hand." Jenkins remained silent for a moment. "how long has it been since you held Racun?" Harrison looked down at his hands that still cradled the red sword in his hands.

"Not in a long time. Magic hasn't been a part of my life, since we gave it over." Harrison admitted, looking over to Jenkins for the first time in their conversation. "I never intended to get involved in this again. But the library wants me for something." He paused for a moment. "I'm not a librarian. I never was. So, why am I needed. What is coming?"

"I don't know" Jenkins admits pushing himself off the desk and walking over to place a hand on Harrisons shoulder. "but hiding away from it, won't give you answers, and it won't make it go away." He squeezed his hand once before leaving.

Harrison stood still for a moment, before placing Racun down on the table and leaving. For now, his guide would just have to find a new home, whilst Harrison himself found out his purpose.

**London**

For the third time since meeting Flynn Carsen, Harrison found himself being flown to a Europe. This time they were heading home. London.

"There's a magical stone out there somewhere. Got about 12 hours before I'm dead, and the end of the world will probably come before that. Full day ahead." Flynn listed their priorities once we had landed. For some reason Flynn had chosen the tower of London as his reference point.

"How do we find the stone?" Eve asked.

"What we need is a compass. The stone that Excalibur was pulled from is almost pure magic. It should attract any other magic item in the city. Let's just take another magic artefact, rig it into the compass." Flynn snapped his fingers. At the very least it explained why they were wondering around the tower of London.

"Piece of cake." Ezekiel wiggled his fingers from the gummy bag he was snacking from.

"It is a piece of cake, because I know just the artefact." Flynn guided the group to the room containing the crown.

"The crown jewels?" Eve hissed at Flynn as the guide was talking about the displays. "We are not... We are not stealing the crown jewels of the British monarchy."

"Of course not." Flynn moved slightly to stand in front of a green gem. "We're stealing that one. The star of Marrakesh. John Dee used it to save the life of Elizabeth I from magical assassination. Actually, really funny story..." Ezekiel cut Flynn off.

"So, we're not stealing the crown jewels. We're stealing the priceless artefact from right next to the crown jewels." There was a mild annoyance in his voice. Ezekiel properly wanted the challenge of taking the crown.

"Oh, not "we." Now I know why The Library chose you." Flynn nodded at Ezekiel, who smiled a little bit happy.

"Vibration detectors on the glass. Got a pressure plate... can't tell when the weight changes. It's actually not too difficult." Ezekiel rubbed his hands together.

Somehow, using Eve and Jacob as a distraction Ezekiel was able to steal the gem and get it to Flynn when the five of them then followed a floating gem restrained by string all the way to Buckingham palace.

"Is that..." Jacob asked.

"That's Buckingham Palace." Flynn agreed, disconnecting the gem.

"Good news." Ezekiel had pulled out his phone. "There's a charity event on tonight. I bet I could forge us some invites."

"We just robbed the tower of London, and now you want us to break in to Buckingham Palace?" Eve demanded.

"Well, it is more fraud than it is breaking and entering." Ezekiel shrugged. This was very much his area of expertise.

"Listen, can you make me a duke?" Jacob slung his arm around Ezekiel.

"Sure. What's next?" Eve ranted sarcastically. "The Vatican? The White House?" then she stormed and walked off. Harrison turned to look at the palace.

"I'll see you inside." He commented before striding off as well. No chance he was going to break into the palace that was suicidal.

**There we go that's it for this chapter. Any question, thoughts or corrections. leave me a review. **


	4. Going through Buckingham Palace

**AN: The disclaimer remains the same, a minor violence scene is present but not much description. this is a very tame story for now.**

**Hello humans, **nothing has changed on this story. i still don't own any of it. the rating is still the same. in fact the only change is the fact we have a new chapter.** :) **

**The Fur1an: **never fear that i won't update. this one was later then scheduled due to unforeseen issues.

On that updates are going to be spotty, I've entered exam season at Uni and my summer is full with work each day (minus four days at the end of July) so i want have the time to edit and update.

This chapter has not been edited outside of me, so there will be issues and continuity problems i'm hoping to have my 'Beta' read over it for me this month but '**TheHelpingHand' **has their own story's and life to balance beside sitting next to me and asking me what i actually meant to say here. (that happens a lot.) :(

_last time:_

_"__We just robbed the tower of London, and now you want us to break in to Buckingham Palace?" Eve demanded. _

_"__Well, it is more fraud than it is breaking and entering." Ezekiel shrugged. This was very much his area of expertise. _

_"__Listen, can you make me a duke?" Jacob slung his arm around Ezekiel. _

_"__Sure. What's next?" Eve ranted sarcastically. "The Vatican? The White House?" then she stormed and walked off. Harrison turned to look at the palace. _

_"__I'll see you inside." He commented before striding off as well. No chance he was going to break into the palace - that was suicidal. _

Palace, England

True to his word, Harrison was in the main ball room, just off from the doors, glass of wine in hand when the rest of the entourage entered. He had seen Eve walking around earlier talking to security, so assumed she used her NATO connection to get in, then bluffed the other three in when whatever plan Ezekiel had failed.

Harrison stepped over too them. "Glad you could join." Harrison greeted them.

"How did you…" Jacob started to ask but Ezekiel beat him too an answer.

"Lord Orion Black. I knew I recognised you." Ezekiel was proud to have finally worked it out. The amount of dealing they did in the past it was only inevitable that Ezekiel caught on eventual.

Harrison chuckled. "Well observed." Harrison had come in a classic suit with his hair tied back to the nape of his neck. He had placed a minor spell on it so the white streak that ran from his temple was concealed and the glasses that had been obscuring his distinctive green eyes had been removed. It was only minor changes but it was enough to create a divide between the two identities.

The group quickly divided after that. Jacob and Ezekiel started to search side rooms, whilst Eve and Flynn circled the east side of the dance hall and Harrison wondered the north.

A quick distraction for the guards ten minutes later was there opportunity sneak through the hidden door into a dark corridor, located by Eve when she noticed the Guard, guarding a wall.

"It's the old section. George III's time." Jacob informed the group, as we walked through. Cobwebs had settled on every wooden surface available, with a cold feeling surrounding the corridor due to the exposed masonry. These rooms had not been disturbed for a long time.

They had barley stepped foot into a sealed wine storage off from the corridor when blue light rippled through the cellar and Harrison's knees buckled as the magic surged though his body following the path of the blue light.

The influxes of magic broke the concealment spell on his head, hair rippling back to black with a striking white streak it held before they snuck into the palace.

"The sword's re-joined the stone." He gritted out against the sensation. Jacob and Ezekiel had not noticed Harrison predicament too busy searching the wine, but Flynn and Eve had. Eve tried to help but was supporting a lot of Flynn's weight because of the librarian's own injury.

After the initial wave Harrison managed to return to his feet, supressing the feeling of electricity causing though him, to that of something crawling under his skin - Irritating but manageable. But he knew as the magic increased the more strain he was going to be under and the harder it would become to supress.

"Magic''s coming back." Flynn looked deadly serious as he looked over at Harrison in concern.

"Hello, Dolly!" Ezekiel unknowingly broke the tension as be pulled a bottle of wine from the rakes. "A 1911 Château d'Yquem. Stole one of these once. Worth about $100,000. Not a chance of this staying in a wine cellar. I don't care whose wine cellar it is."

After convincing Ezekiel to put the wine back, with the promise that Harrison would tell him another cellar containing the bottle somewhere else, we moved on. The path led them down below the palace into a sewer side tunnel.

"Hang on." They stopped at a hole in the wall. "Oh. They tunnelled in from..." Flynn was a little too loud. "They tunnelled in from the side. That's much smarter than what we did."

"We have worked long and hard to achieve what stands before us today, brothers... the goal of returning magic to the world. It is but moments away." Lamia's voice echoes down the corridor leading to the Stone.

"Okay, we got trained killers. One of them's got a crown that... that's allowing her to control the deadliest weapon on Earth. Ideas, ideas, ideas, ideas." Flynn looked at us hoping for a plan to just spontaneous produce itself.

"I have some ideas." Cassandra's voice drifted over to them. We found her sat inside a cell.

"Good to see you alive." Harrison nodded at her through the bars. Her death would be too much of a reminder of his Moon's, she would have done just about anything to get rid of her gift as well.

"Uh, no, thanks." Jacob shook his head. Not forgiving. "You already sold us out once."

"She had her reasons. Let's get her out of there." Flynn stepped up to the door. Old steal locks easily giving into a little bit of picking.

"Okay, what's the big idea?" Flynn asked once they had circled together.

"Okay. Come here. Come on." she moved us slightly closer to the entrance to the stone, just around the corner. "Okay, so, that's the drill that they cool with ice-water pipes. That's the air recycler. And then the electrical wires for the generator, and then..." the plan began very apparent as Cassandra pointed out each item.

"I got you. Metal pipes. Very good plan. Distraction, then action. This is gonna work, but it's gonna take all of us." Flynn clasped his hands together. "Stone, your knowledge of mechanics. You need to reroute that ice-water coolant into the warm air recycler. That's gonna give us our cover."

"Librarians. Find them!" Lamia ordered as the dry-ice covered the room.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Come on. Ezekiel, your hacking. You got to rewire that generator panel and give me alternating current, very strong, when I yell for it at the frequency Cassandra gives you."

"6-7-1-4." Cassandra dutifully worked out.

"Eve and Harrison, you got to keep them distracted while I get to Lamia."

Harrison used the smoke to get to the other side of the room to cover Flynn, whilst Eve took the others out by the entrance way.

"Aah! I hear you, Librarian." Lamia called out, as Harrison put the first guard into a headlock.

"Give me the crown. And stop this." Harrison shook his head and engaged two other people. Flynn was not good at distracted people.

"Stop this?"

"Magic is returning to the world. It's flowing out through the Ley Lines, creeping back into every corner of this planet." The power seeping out of the stone seemed to focus in the room as Lamia wielded the sword. She didn't know how to channel the magic.

Harrison hit the floor at the spike of magic, crying out at the burning sensation as washed over every muscle and joint in his body. He was grateful in that moment that he had dealt with all the henchmen in the room. The rest having gone to try and stop the other four.

"Magic you control, whose power I can't let you have." Flynn's voice was tunnelling in Harrison's ears, who only just working out what he had actually said.

"And how are you going to stop us? Hmm? With your little knock-off Librarians? One doomed by her gift, one who fled his gift, one who abuses it? Or your little soldier girl? Maybe the one withering on the floor?" Harrison rolled enough on the floor to reach the stone and sit against it.

Breath coming in drawn wheezes, like someone was compressing his chest. The stone was the epicentre so had was the least saturated in magic, So the burning pulses that washed over Harrison were reduced slightly.

"No. I'm the Librarian." Flynn grunted. "Librarians win with knowledge. Librarians win with science. Librarians win with electromagnets! 'Cal, come!"

Harrison's focus dropped out for a moment as the pain intensified, flooding his vision white. By the time his vision had refocused, the others had returned to the room and Lamia and her goons had fled.

Cassandra's plan had worked.

"What's happening?" Cassandra asked as Excalibur struggled to float.

"The magic's gone back into the Earth. He's dying." Flynn hit the floor, sitting up next to Harrison on the stone. Harrison bowed his head slightly at Flynn as the last of the magic left the cave seeping into ground, releasing the strain on himself and leaving him feeling numb.

"I think we both are. Listen." Flynn held his partner in his hands, offering it forward. "The power that's left is almost all raw magic. It can help you. It can save you." Excalibur seemed to try and hum in agreement.

"Flynn." Eve begged.

"It's okay. Judson's gone. Charlene's gone. Excalibur's dying. It's time." It seemed to be getting hard for Flynn to speak. The blood loss and depression was finally taking root in Flynn now the adrenaline had faded.

"Flynn." Eve shook her head as the others looked sorrowful.

"Just touch it to your head." Flynn passed out, once Cassandra had the sword in hand, as his wound finally got the better of him. Cassandra was knelt on the floor in front of him, Excalibur in resting between her hands. She sniffled before lunching forward with a sob, pressing Excalibur against Flynn's side.

Magic ran through Flynn straight away, healing his wound. Flynn sprang up, everyone following him, apart from Harrison who flinched at the quick spike in Magic and remained crumpled on the floor ignored for now.

"Oh. No. No. It was supposed to be for you." Flynn had placed his hand on Cassandra's shoulders sadly.

"You already have saved me." She smiled at him watery.

Excalibur whining pulled their attention. "It's okay. It's okay, old friend." Flynn placed Excalibur onto his stone and watched as he melted away. After a moment he knelt next to Harrison, who looked up at him and grimaced.

"How bad is it?" Flynn asked offering Harrison his hand to stand.

"Oh, you know, lets stand you against a tidal wave and see how you far." Harrison lent heavily against Flynn and let him guide him out, neither one explaining what was wrong to the others.

If they were smart, they could work most of it out. If they didn't, then they didn't deserve to have the truth explained to them.

The four of them were stood outside the entrance to the Annex. Eve and Flynn was stood opposite, creating a dividing line. It had been almost two days since they stopped the brotherhood. Harrison had recovered and they had flown back to Library's gate way. But now it was time to say goodbye.

"Your airline tickets." Flynn handed each of them a white envelope.

"What, that's it?" Cassandra asked confused.

"I don't think it's fair or safe to involve you in this life any longer." Flynn explained.

"A life that would have been ours had luck broken just a little differently." Jacob protested.

"Mm... Maybe not." Flynn shook his head slightly.

"So back to our lives." Jacob looked appalled.

"Yep."

"Knowing that magic is real, knowing the world..." Jacob seamed incapable of finishing his sentence, so Cassandra did it for him.

"Is so big. The world is so big. I mean, what if we can't just... Move on?" Flynn just smiled

"You'll find away" and left the four of us standing by a car, envelopes in hand. Eve spoke with them for a moment before disappearing after Flynn.

Flynn was barely gone five minutes when he reappeared, stopping them getting into the car to leave.

"New plan." He paused slightly and thought about it. "Although I suspect it's the old plan. I'm just figuring it out. Open your envelopes."

"Our airline tickets?" Ezekiel asked as they did as they were told.

The envelopes revealed a white letter, that had gold writing appear the moment it was open, they had all received at least one of these envelopes before. This was an invitation to the library.

Harrison for the first time accepted a position with in the Library, it had taken four separate attempts to recruit him.

"Just as I suspected. We have a lot of work too do." Flynn guided them back inside.

**TwinTigerLover**

please read my AN at the top.

Review! please. :P


	5. The beast that never dies

**Truth is hard to hide or the beast that never dies**

Hi, guys i fixed the whole posting the same chapter twice thing. so here you go, the actual next chapter. it's the longest one i have at the moment as there was very few opportunity to divided this episode up. Again, my beta has not read though this one so mixed are properly prevalent must review were you find them and i'll fix. :)

**Deep thoughts **

Two weeks of boredom was not what I signed up for when working for The Library. Two weeks is how long Flynn had been gone, how long Eve had been 'training' them to survive as librarians. That's how long it took me to realise I was not a librarian. It was almost like I was the secondary guardian. Why not, I suppose if there is to be three new librarians why not a second guardian.

I had decided to not turn up to today's training season again. If I had it would only be watching the three librarians ignore everything I told them or suggested and ended up being beat, again. Don't get me wrong we got along just fine, but because I refused to tell them my life story or explain what happened in the cave with Lamia they didn't trust me. Ezekiel had got over it a while ago, it was necessary in his field of work, especially when I supported him for so long, but it didn't improve working relations.

But it was not just me the group were struggling with. Jacob was holding a far bit of resent against Cassandra for her betrayal in the caves. He was the only one, however. Ezekiel would freely admit he would have done the same but he'd get away with it, if offered and I was aware that given the right motivation that I could have turned against the Library as well.

Often, I was found among the bookshelves and remaining artefacts. I may not be Librarian material, that does not mean that I didn't like a good bit of history or to understand an old language or theory. It was a trait that led me to science and experimentation in the first place. I can see were Jenkins was coming from when it came to combining science and magic, to enhance. Ultimately the lack of one did lead to the other.

**How's training going?**

"Go, go, go!" Jacob ordered running, falling back and hiding behind a stake of crates as the other three moved further ahead. To give them more time Jacob waited for the shadowed figure to move in line with his cates before pouncing out, attempting to disable them physical.

Jacob lost.

Ezekiel and Cassandra had hidden a little further down from the two brawling figures. Seeing Jacob being taken down was enough for Ezekiel to wave at Cassandra who had his opposite him and bail for the exit. He was a thief not a fighter. He was quickly taken care of as well.

Cassandra didn't fight, and she didn't flee, she hid crawling between boxes and under shelves… right into their assailant.

Eve removed her hood in disappointment. The walk back to the Annex would not be a fun one. They had been at this for two weeks of similar survival and strategy exercises and they had not once even looked like they might pass. How could she send them out into the real world full of something she didn't really understand if they couldn't even work together and get out of a very potential scenario.

"It took me two minutes to disable all three of you." Eve started giving them a run down. "Stone, you've got an IQ of 190. You should know you can't solve everything with brute force alone." Let's start in order of where they went wrong.

"It's worked so far." Jacob shrugged.

"Fight smarter, not harder." She ordered him. "Still, at least you can fight. Ezekiel bailed on his team." She waved at the thief who only shrugged back.

"These are the hands of a world-class thief. I don't do punchy."

"Harrison didn't turn up and Cassandra hid... badly." Eve continued her tirade as the entered the Annex and walked towards the office.

"I am here to do science and math and occasionally hallucinate. You're just not being fair." Cassandra pouted.

"You think I'm not fair, wait until you meet the bad guys, which is why we'll run drills again tomorrow and every day until I'm sure I can take you out into the field with even a chance of you coming back in one piece."

"Oh, how substandard were they?" Jenkins asked happily as they entered the office.

"Good pep talk, Jenkins." Eve responded, Jenkins seamed to shrug then start walking to the exit, some tools in hand.

"While you were out, a new page appeared in the clipping book. Looks fascinating." He smiled to himself as we walked towards the office. Maybe all the librarians needed was field experience, it seemed to work with Flynn and every librarian before him. They either learnt to survive and think their way out of the situation or they never should have been librarians in the first place.

"No! Not yet!" Eve stopped them.

"Well, this is crazy. Every day, a new page shows up of weird newspaper clippings in this book. And every day, you tell us to ignore it. We've hardly opened it since the day Flynn left." Jacob pointed at the book annoyed and bored. Very bored.

"Because you're not ready." Eve had started to sound like a broken recorded at this point.

"Flynn told us we were supposed to help people." Ezekiel pointed out. If there was one thing this thief was good at was helping people. No one had ever really suffered from his thieving only prospered. Sitting here and watching problem after problem appear in the book was not sitting well on his contuse.

"Yeah. Ezekiel's right. Flynn gave us a job. We're supposed to be checking out the... weird... Not sit around here." Jacob struggled to put the right words to their argument.

"Ezekiel's right." Cassandra also agreed.

"I said that." Jacob was annoyed that Cassandra didn't acknowledge his part in the argument. Eve shook her head no and left to go talk to Jenkins.

**Let them learn**

"Jenkins stay out..." Eve trailed of as she caught sight of his work space. She hadn't had to come in her before now. It was quite extraordinary; bottle and vials of things littered the place large to small relics were placed about the room in various stages of tests.

"Marvellous, isn't it?" he smiled proudly, focusing on the small gem and wires inside a large oval, he was working on. "I told you, this is where I do my research. Judson always insists that we just lock the artefacts away. But I experiment on them, study them, improve them." He managed to fit the wire inside the orb and cheered a little in success. "Ha."

"It's hard enough to rein them in without you dangling that clippings book in front of them." Eve focused back onto her reason for being there.

"Why rein them?" Jenkins asked leaning back against his desk and giving the guardian his full attention or rather what appeared to be his fall attention. His mind wondering to other things he could be doing to enhance the globe. "You've got to put them in the field sooner or later."

"I've gone into the field with experienced soldiers with a good plan, good Intel, and still come home with nothing but dog tags. I'm talking soldiers with training who've seen combat. These four... I promised Flynn I'd keep them alive. They're not even close to ready.

"I appreciate you wanting to keep them out of harm's way, but librarians exist to keep magic out of the wrong hands. Their job is to be in harm's way." Jenkins emphasised the last part.

"I can't protect four of them at once and they can't take care of themselves, not without a lot more training. Harrison maybe but he doesn't want to work with the others." Eve exhaled annoyed. It was true though for whatever reason Harrison was isolating himself from training and not working very well with the other three. He barely ever spoke.

"We used to put librarians in the field with no training at all." Jenkins shrugged unconcerned. If a librarian didn't make it back it was properly for the best.

"Oh, yeah? And how many came back?" Eve demanded.

Jenkins smiled at her. "The best ones." That seemed to be the end of the conversation as Eve walked back out.

**Braking the rules**

"We're doing this, right?" Cassandra asked hovering over the book, now that Eve had left.

"Hell yeah, we are." Jacob agreed as Cassandra moved to open the book.

"Let's go." Ezekiel nodded as the book was opened so they could all read. I smiled from the selves as for the first time the three librarians disobeyed their guardian. They wouldn't get very far if they all ways listened to her. I had opened the book everyday so far and allocated a small amount of time to investigate, even sending someone over to fix it if the issue could be dealt with without directly handling magic.

For example, last week I had come across woman in a becoming for aggressive and doing something they would not have normally do. They were becoming self-obsessed, but it wasn't affecting the males or children. Turns out a fraction of Narcissi's mirror had ended up at the mall, so I had a male employ pick it up and mail it to me. Solving the problem as the lack of exposure set the town back to rights. It's amazing what one can accomplish when you set your mind to it.

"what are you going to do when you've read it?" I asked walking more into the room, so the other librarians could see me.

"Harrison!" I managed to startle Cassandra, going by her expression I would say she had already read the passage. "what are you…"

"what are you going to do, now you've read it?" I asked again cutting off her question.

"we are going to help." Jacob stated.

"then you had best start gathering enough information to prove to Eve that you need to help. One intern going missing won't cut it." I told them. I had already started the work but if the they wanted to become librarians then they had best start researching cases.

"it's a good idea." Cassandra nodded. The group divided off, each sticking to their strengths to help save this kid. Cassandra set up a display board for all the information to be pinned to.

"I said…" Eve came marching back in nearly hour later, she must have been having a really long conversation with Jenkins or his endless words of wisdom had caused her to stop and think for a little while. If it was the later I would be over joyed, the continues restraints and overwatch was getting on my nerves.

"Henry Birch, 21." Cassandra intercepted Eve before she could get started. "He was on a full scholarship in chemical engineering at Boston university. He went missing two days ago. Seven other clippings, all missing people disappeared this year." She showed Eve their board. I kept back folder in hand. I too had done some digging into this and would share when relevant.

"That many, the police are on it." Eve tried to dismiss.

"Nope. The victims are from all around the country. The only reason to suspect they're connected is that they all showed up in our magic book." Cassandra shook her head. They had looked into that angle as well.

"That's eight people gone. Maybe dead." Jacob stepped forward ignoring Cassandra's belief that they might still be alive. Her optimism did get on my nerves a far bit, many because I was far too much a realist to be healthy.

"And how many more are gonna go missing before we step in?" Ezekiel demanded, seeing Eve faulter. "What if he's still alive? What if we have a chance to save Henry Birch and we don't?" I smiled slightly, it was almost like Ezekiel had become the piece maker, now if that could transfer into bridge the gap between each of us, I'd say I was proud.

"And you're willing to risk your lives for him?" Eve asked.

"I won't risk my life." Ezekiel shrugged. "But... I assume I can outrun anything, so I'm in." the cocky smile made an appearance.

"Fine." Eve gave in. "But we're going in with a plan. I want full breakdowns on the missing, backgrounds on their work places, magical and supernatural possibilities." She told them. They all nodded and gathered to go over everything they had discovered in Eve's absence. "Oh, God. What have I done?" she muttered to herself at their happy faces. I just smile and joined the gathering at the table.

"Even though the victims were from all over, they all disappeared in Boston. Any connection beyond the city?" Eve asked, looking over the map detailing each individual disappearance over the last year.

"Yes. Golden Axe foods. They all worked..." Cassandra was stood like she was giving a report.

"and this was tricky..." Jacob interjected.

"some of them under subsidiaries, some under shell companies, Henry Birch was for his scholarship, but..."

"in conclusion, they were all interns at Golden Axe foods." I blinked, wow, I'm glad I wasn't the only one getting annoyed at Cassandra's need to explain things in a long winded many, especially when everyone already knew the answer.

"Yeah." Jacob nodded his agreement. "I'm familiar with the logo. They were all over the farms in my hometown. And they sell, like, engineered seeds and stuff. It's huge."

"problem is this didn't start this year." I stepped forward. "fourteen people have been going missing every year for centuries, all disappearing from the same location as the Golden axe's head quarts. The disappearance started together and would see an exponential increase in profits. More recently over the last few years they have been disappearance staggered over the year with small profit increases." The three librarians blinked at me, not sure when I had gathered this information.

"I've scouted the security. Run-of-the-mill guards, boring alarms. When do we break in?" Ezekiel rubbed his hands together excited.

"We don't break in. We go in. We ask questions. No picking fights." Eve stated as Jenkins came in, rolling a globe. His movements drew everyone's attention.

"What... what... what are you doing?"

"Sending you to Boston." He clasped his hands together as we gathered round him. "I present to you... The back door." He waved at the broom closet.

"Yeah, that's the broom closet." Jacob pointed out, not impressed with Jenkins theatrics.

Ah, no... it is a door behind which presently exists the broom closet. Mr. Stone, hook those up. Put them here." Jenkins directed Jacob to attach some cable wires to the door frame. "You see, magic works on similarities. Uh, a symbolic resonance. Yes. Uh, a voodoo doll is symbolic of a person. And lead can be transformed into gold because it is already similar. So, with a little... Magic... That broom-closet door can become a symbolic representation of any other door." He opened the door to reveal a street in Boston, it was an alley, so, no one was around as everyone stepped through to investigate. I watched as each one stubbled through, but instead in following I leant back against the table. No point in all of us going through to prove a point.

"Ohh! Ow."

"Uh, s... uh, that first step might be just a little..." Jenkins though to mention once they had all stumbled through.

"Hey, yeah, thanks for the warning, Jenkins."

"Th-this is Boston. You moved the annex to Boston?" Jacob asked.

"No. Just the door. Does no one listen?" Jenkins look back at me in exasperation. I just shrugged. Sometimes techno babble could go over even the smartest people's heads if it wasn't there area of expertise and right no anything magical related was not their area of expertise.

"It's an Einstein-Rosen bridge." Cassandra clapped. "It's a wormhole." Cassandra stepped back to our side with a giggle. "The back doors on the east coast... And the front door" she stepped back through into Boston "Is still on the west coast." With a final giggle everyone stepped back into the Annex.

"Wait, wait. We can go anywhere we want in the world?" Ezekiel asked.

"Absolutely anywhere that has a door. Still working out the kinks. You know, it doesn't stay open very long and it's not the most accurate thing. Well, frankly, getting the right city is a win." Jenkins agreed in a vague long-winded way. It was an old person thing.

"Any door? Like, say... A bank-vault door?" Ezekiel shrugged off the looks he got. "I'm asking for a mate."

With the excitement of the door over with, everyone got ready to leave. I wasn't very happy about Eve's plan to get inside using NATO but any argument I made was being over ran.

"We do this, you do what I say, when I say. Clear?" she demanded when we all stood by the door.

"Good luck." Jenkins muttered.

"What?" Eve turned to Jenkins, who just powered up the door.

"Nothing. Go away. I'm working."

**Sub contuse power and Eve's mistakes. **

We entered Golden Axe head quarts and Eve managed to get us a meeting with the CO. we wear barely waiting for ten minutes in the lobby. The receptionist led the group up but just as we were going to enter the office my phone rang. I dropped back waving the group inside as I moved to the sectary's desk to answer the phone.

"hello." I greeted. The conversation turned out to be a waste of my time as one of the people involved in running one of the sections of my estate decided to contact me about a minor issue that should have been resolved by one of the running managers. My estate had been gathering for years, all under different names and families. I kept it separate to stop suspicion from spreading. No one working under me actual knew about any of the other estates, the finals coming to me in instalments to make sure each was running well.

By the time I was finished the meeting with the CO had been brought to the end and a man led them out of the office.

"Mr. Franklin," A woman interrupted them even as they stepped out of the office. "Tokyo really needs to confirm the shipping price."

Franklin signed but took the phone, leading the group down the corridor even as he spoke. "Hai?" multi-lingual. A smart employ then. Shame not all of mine were that intelligent. But then again, he might be in on whatever was happening here. So not that smart after all.

"They know something." Eve whispered now that their escort was busy. Well that was an obvious conclusion. I wasn't even in that meeting and knew something was up. People making inquires into the running of your work had circles walked round them not walked right into the boss's office.

"How do you know they know something?" Jacob whispered back.

"Eight missing interns, they should have buried us in lawyers, not danced us straight in to meet Karen Willis, the C.E.O. She wanted to size us up, find out what we know."

"So, they now know that we know something? But do we now know that they know something more than just knowing we know something?"

"I'll bet you whatever they're about to show us in the H.R. Is gonna be faked up, you know, just for show. The originals might be on the main server if I can find the server room."

"We just passed it back there." Ezekiel interrupted Jacob and Eve's back and forth. "Yeah, air seals for climate control, most security I've seen on this floor."

"Good. You three go to H.R. If she wants to put on a show, you're the audience. I'm gonna break into the server room."

"Uh, Ezekiel Jones, world-class thief. Why am I playing audience and you are burglar?"

"Because I want the four of you together, safe, in a place that is very boring." She shot any chance of Ezekiel doing what he does best. Sooner or later eve was going to have to realise that she couldn't protect them all. "What I say, when I say it." She reminded the group, before turning to Franklin, drawing is attention slightly from his conversation. "Excuse me? Restroom?"

"Down the hall." He instructed.

"Go ahead. I'll catch up." Eve started walking way as we reached the lift doors.

"Hai. Domo." Franklin hung up and scanned us into the lift but didn't get in with us. "Please. I'll wait for your friend. Room 014. Go left, left, then right." He instructed as the doors closed.

We ended up in the basement trying to follow Franklins rather fast directions.

"We should have warned Baird that guy was going back after her." Jacob said, looking a little concerned.

"Hey, she's the one who sends us on a snipe hunt." Ezekiel shrugged, still annoyed he wasn't braking and entering. "Let her sweat a little. What did he say, a left, a left, and a right?"

I shrugged and took lead with him.

"You are not servers. Look at this." Jacob's attention was drawn by the art on the wall. The further down they walked the older the arts on the wall become. It didn't surprise me that it drew his attention. "Looks like Greek frescos. This is late Helladic, I think. Now, why would these be down here in the basement?"

"More like subbasement." Ezekiel asked, looking at the concrete that surrounded them. "Did we go down a level and nobody noticed?"

"Guys, could we just hurry up and find Human Resources? This lighting is giving me a headache." Cassandra asked.

"Are you sure it's not your brain grape about to pop?" Ezekiel asked in a vague sense of concern. I always wondered what was wrong with genius that they struggled to communicate with people.

"Okay, new rule..." Cassandra ordered glaring slightly. "How about we not refer to the tumour that will one day kill me as a "brain grape"?"

"Ah. Here we go. And I was worried we were getting lost." We had finally arrived at a door with the human resources tagged to it.

I moved forward and opened the door first. Inside was not a desk surrounded by paper and filing cabinets as I was expecting by rather piles of human remains, some of the bones looked fairly resent but others were crumbling in age.

"You are not Human Resources." I de-panned to the room as the others came to look.

"Go. Go." I ordered as we set off at a run, Jacob pulled his phone out and dialled Eve.

"Baird!"

"I'm texting you some pictures. I found something real weird." Was her greeting ignoring the panic in Jacob's voice and the sound of pounding feet.

"Oh, did you? We found something weird, too." Was his very snarky reply.

"I found a room full of really old art." She said it like that was the weirdest thing out there.

"That is weird." Maybe Jacob was only sarcastic in stressful situations. I should stress him out more, I prefer him sarcastic. "We found a room full of human skulls!"

"What do you mean, human skulls?" she realised that maybe the art wasn't her main concern right now.

"How many ways can I mean "human skulls"?"

"Left, then left, then right guys. This doesn't make any sense." Cassandra did a complete circle when we didn't end up back at the lifts.

"Wait a minute. This is not late Helladic. This is Minoan." Jacob was looking at the photos Eve had sent. He choice a real good time for it. "There's barely any complete Minoan art known to exist."

"Minoan. Why do I know that name?"

"Greek mythology. Theseus and the Minotaur. Big monster. Head of a bull, inescapable labyrinth. Theseus had a big ball of thread. He used it so he wouldn't get lost." Jacob explained.

"This place is... kind of labyrinth-y." Cassandra nodded, finally catching on to how they had yet to cross the sae corridor yet had just back tracked our own steps.

"And I'm looking at a really old ball of thread."

"Well, that's clearly stupid. There is no way, under a skyscraper, we're in a labyrinth." Ezekiel protested ended the moment we stepped though a door into old cave like structures.

"Oh! Okay. Maybe we are in a labyrinth. Let's go." We set off trying to work our way out of a very famous maze.

"Guys, wait. Something isn't... Mm. Just give me a minute." Cassandra raised her hands to her head trying to work out what she had noticed. That was the problem with Synesthetes is that they couldn't always keep tract of everything they notice, so their sub contuse stores it. It was worse for Cassandra because of how mixed up her senses wear.

"No, no, no, no, no, no. This is not the time, kid, okay?" Jacob ordered, not willing to stop. "We got to run because..."

Ezekiel tried to convince himself that we were safe-ish "No! No, no, no, no. Do not say "because the Minotaur is coming." Because there is no Minotaur, and I'll tell you why. In your myth, uh, what's-his-face? Theseus! Yeah, right. He killed the Minotaur. So, the Minotaur is dead. And if he's dead, he's not here. Right?" a growling sounded to waylay that argument.

"Right? Right?"

"Ugh. This is wrong. The hallway we were in before should cut through here. But it doesn't. I-it's impossible." Cassandra shook her head, not understanding.

"Wait, guys. I think we should go this way." Ezekiel pointed.

"That's great. I'm stuck in a magic maze with three of the least reliable people I know." Jacob complained.

"Wait. Least reliable? You know what? You have been on my case nonstop. Why am I unreliable?" Cassandra kicked up a fuse. Me and Ezekiel just rolled with. We had been called worse and had bigger priorities like getting out of a maze.

"Not now, all right? We got to move." The two of us moved slightly away to make sure nothing was coming.

"I know. I betrayed you that first time, so..."

"Not now."

"Hey. I was scared. I have a death sentence inside my head and they offered me a cure, so what was I supposed to do?"

"Not sell us out."

"So self-righteous. Look at me and all I've sacrificed. I'm such a good boy."

"Well, I take my responsibilities seriously."

"Shh!" I ordered, having enough of this pointless back and forth.

"And you made your bed. I didn't get a choice in mine. So, you don't get to judge me for..." Cassandra gasp cutting herself off she caught on to what her brain had been working out of her. "There's a pattern. Pattern, pattern. Pattern, pattern. Circles insides of squares inside of triangles. That's why I have the headache. My brain knew that we were in a maze before we even realized it ourselves. I can see it. Kind of."

"Can you kind of get us out of here?" Jacob was still being heavily sarcastic, but Ezekiel was done.

"Oi! Whatever issues you two are having, save it. I say we follow the brain grape."

"We are not calling it a brain grape!" Roaring, came a lot closer than it was before and Cassandra set off with a squeak "Follow the brain grape. This way."

"Ha!" she cheered when we got out into the concrete corridor.

"Where next?"

"Kind of more guessing than knowing, but... I guess this way." Before we could set off two gunshots echoed down the hall.

"One short, one long, two short." Jacob asked.

"What, Morse code?"

"It's an "L" For "Librarians"?" I asked. The only person I know that would try and communicate with fired Morse code was…

"It's Baird. Let's go."

"Anyone else worried that the monster heard those gunshots, too?"

"I'm hoping we find Baird first." The growling followed by more gunshots dissuaded Jacob of that notion.

"Human resources... so safe, so boring." I snapped as we found Eve and ended up in a room with the Minitour on the outside.

The room looked like an old abended office, so when the cabinet doors rattled and opened to reveal Jenkins I was very relieved we had ducked into this room to hide from the approaching minotaur

"Well, I'll be damned." Jenkins distinctive voice washed over us, as the cabinet was flung open. "I did not think that would work with a cabinet door."

"Go! Go!" Eve ordered covering are retreat by firing at the beast as we stepped through the doorway, everyone stumbling in as we rushed through. Eve slapped the door shut to stop the minotaur from following as the connection was breached.

"Uh, a symbolic representation of you in the labyrinth." Jenkins commented, looking over the fried circlets that got the magic door working. "That's a trick I won't be trying anytime soon again. So..." he tossed it aside as looked over the dishevelled group. "First time out. How did it go?"

Two over exaggerated tails later and Jenkins was caught up on what happened. Whilst they were talking I had wondered off to grab a few books on Greek myth, more specifically the Labyrinth. I chose to lean up against the end of the oval table, close enough to hear the group speak and still concentrate on the book in my hand.

"It's the thread." Jenkins explained easily.

"The thread?" Cassandra questioned, knowing all the magical terms had almost become her goal, so she requested more information at ever turn.

"There's all this other stuff. Magic has three parts... power to change reality, focus to direct that change, and an effect, that change in the real world." Jenkins explained

"The effect would be the labyrinth, right?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Created by the focus of the Minoan artefacts."

"Mr. Stone, you have a knack for this." Jenkins complemented.

"But the power that holds it all together, that's the original thread in the myth, millennia old." I carried on the explanation.

"Millennia means thousands of years." Jacob added for Eve's benefit.

"Yes, thank you."

"If you take the thread out, it would be like taking the battery out of a car." Jacob concluded

"Yes. Crude analogy, but totally accurate." Jenkins agreed

"We destroy the thread, and the entire multi-dimensional hoo-ha collapses in on itself with a whoosh. All we have to do is get past that Minotaur."

"Yeah." The others agreed.

"Everything I could find on Minotaur's." I placed the books on the table, leaving the top book open on the telling of the myth.

"Nasty creatures, hold a grudge." Jenkins in putted.

"I put seven rounds into the thing, and it still got back up." Eve stated.

"then he has quite a grudge." I shrugged at her.

"There are many immortal beings that can be injured but not killed. Nicholas Flamel, the wandering Jew, the black mask. Sources reported him killed many times, but he always seems to pop up when needed." Jenkins trailed off, not willing to list to many more.

"If I can't kill this thing, what am I supposed to do?"

"Colonel, the library chose you for a reason. And, trust me, it wasn't because of your ability to kill." Jenkins seemed to give her a meaningful look that made Eve uncomfortable as she shifted.

"We're not gonna save Henry Birch." Cassandra finally admitted.

"Well, then, we get him justice. We're here to protect innocent people from out-of-control magic. I say this qualifies. Golden Axe Foods has the labyrinth in its basement. Tell me why." Eve demanded.

"Well, the myth is that the King imprisoned the Minotaur in the labyrinth. Every 7 years, he sends down 14 virgins... seven men, seven women... for a sacrifice." Jacob explained the bases of the myth.

"Good luck finding 14 virgins these days." Eve scoffed.

"The Greek words for "virgin" are 'Eitheos' and 'parthenos'. They both literally mean unmarried man and woman. It could mean youth, it could mean inexperience." I explained with a shrugged. For some unknown reason we had started to walk towards the main exit, assumingly to gather more information.

"Interns." Everyone clocked together. It's not like I had already explained a little of this before we even went on this little quest.

"Okay. So, in the myth, what did the King get for his sacrifices?"

"He gets power. He gets prosperity and wealth."

"'Through war, famine, plague, Golden Axe will always prevail.'" I quoted the companies moto. "I said at the beginning everyone that disappeared came with a growth in returns." I repeated myself. "The myth calls for 14 sacrifices. They're gonna kill six more people if we don't do anything about it."

"Six more people are gonna be screaming, run down by that. At least. I mean, this has been going on for centuries. Who's to say they're ever gonna stop?" Jacob asked.

"We have to get that thread." Eve agreed.

"Have I mentioned you know a world-class thief?" Ezekiel waved helpfully.

"Relentlessly." She agreed but did show Ezekiel the pictures she had taken in the room of artefacts.

"So, the cases themselves have some heavy-duty security. Paulco taser nets are built-in. Touch one of the cases without deactivating the nets, and, zap, 50,000 volts. But the trick is getting back into that building, past that monster. And tunnelling underground is obviously out of the question." Ezekiel smiled happily as we walked out of the building, what none of us were expecting was to reappear on the street by the Golden axe building.

"damn" I breathed.

"Guys. That's impossible. This is exactly like the frescos that were in the... We're back in the labyrinth." Cassandra realised.

"Okay. So, I've got a phone signal but no GPS. How is this happening?" Eve waved her phone round annoyed at the predicament.

"Sorry." Jacob walked up to a passing woman. "Could you tell me where the nearest subway is?"

"Sure... take a…." the woman's explanation was distorted and impossible to understand. Jacob just thanked her and let her move on.

"Jenkins, quick question." Eve had managed to call Jenkins. "We're on the street outside the annex but we seem to be back in the labyrinth." Eve made an annoyed face at the phone. I get the strangest impression that Jenkins just said something very unhelpful. "So... Annoying or cryptic, those are your two speeds, huh?" she paused a moment. "Like a curse?" I kind of wished she had put in on speaker, it was very difficult only hearing one side of the conversation.

The others were just stood around, waiting for Eve to finish talking to Jenkins. I moved slightly off and started spinning in a circle, Ezekiel watched me from the side but didn't stop me. As I span, I let a very small amount of my magic seep off and head in different direction, creating a circle that weaved through the Labyrinth's own magic.

Growling started to surround the group. I stopped spinning in the direction of the growls.

"Jenkins, the Minotaur's in the maze with us. Get us out of here!" Eve ordered, as everyone started running towards me, I took the lead following my threats of magic away from the minotaur, I felt one of them tag the beast, allowing me to find alternatives. It was difficult as the Maze was a magical construct in the 'real' world and where I was seeing walls there wasn't actually any, whilst I didn't mind running through them, I didn't think the others would follow quite as willing.

"He's right behind us!" I led us down an alleyway and out of the minotaur's view, well for now anyway. "For how long?" I felt a bubble of the maze settle over us, as the minotaur walked by, not seeing us. Jenkins must of bent the reality slightly, it won't hold for long though. "Come on. Okay. Stay calm. I've been in worse spots than this before. Well, that strains credibility. Stone, you take point. All right. Ezekiel, watch the rear. And there's a high roof up there." Eve tried to set up point but that wouldn't do any good.

"There isn't. You heard what Jenkins said. The labyrinth is just trying to confuse us. Even if it was there, we couldn't reach it." Cassandra shook her head, she was standing closed to Eve during her phone call, it made sense she would listen in.

"It's not a suggestion. It's an order." Eve snapped back stressed.

"And I'm not a soldier." She snapped right back. About time, these guys grew a back bone.

"You're right. I am, but you're not." Eve signed and tried again. "You're librarians. Librarians win because of what they know. So, what do you know? Come on, guys. What do you know?"

"Uh, Theseus, bloke from the story, he went into the maze and killed the Minotaur." Ezekiel tried, looking at Jacob for conformation, he was the one who knew the most about the myth, beyond me.

"A Minotaur can't be killed." Jacob shook his head.

"Well, then, how did he escape?" Eve asked.

"You said the Minotaur was imprisoned inside the labyrinth." Eve pointed at Jacob. "Every prison I've ever seen had a control centre inside the walls."

"Your man Theseus, maybe he didn't go to the centre to try and kill the Minotaur. Maybe he went to the centre to pull the plug on the maze, same as us." Ezekiel agreed.

"What do you want to bet that maze leads back to those artefacts?" Jacob asked. I tilted my head to the side, only half listening to the conversation as I felt Jenkins bubble begin to disperse

"No, 'cause I was in that artifacts room and I wasn't... key card. I used that stolen key card. The executive key cards keep them from getting lost in the labyrinth. We don't try to escape. We go deeper in." Eve realised.

"I can get us to the centre. My brain started trying to figure out the maze when I was in it before. I've seen, experienced more of it now. I bet I can get us through." Cassandra inputted, looks like a plan was forming.

"Okay. Cassandra's our thread. Follow her. Outrun the Minotaur, steal the power source for the maze, shut it down. Librarians, we have a plan." Eve agreed.

"The labyrinth. Imagine a building where every floor has a different layout. Sometimes, when you walk around, you move between floors without even knowing it. So, from your perspective, the layout looks different. But if you know what floor you're on, it makes perfect sense." Cassandra explained.

"Sure." We shrugged in agreement.

"Just need to know how many floors are in the building. That number, all the core geometry's gonna be based on that. Without it.."

"It's gonna be seven. Seven's the number. The myth is built on seven. Seven male victims, seven female, sacrificed every seven years."

"Seven. Seven is violet. Three seven-dimensional polytypes. Seven-simplex, seven-cube, seven-orthoplex. There aren't enough vertices. It's a demihepteract."

"Gotcha. Okay. Is this the way in?"

"It's the way back to the annex. Probably. Maybe." Cassandra admitted.

Jacob now knew which way they were going started to walk toward the 'alley way exit' at least the exit we perceived to be present.

"Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Where are you going?" eve demanded stepping in front of him.

"We have to split up." Jacob shrugged easily.

"you don't want to be in the labyrinth when it goes poof." Ezekiel pointed out, stepping closer to Cassandra his way out of the maze.

"We're staying together. I'm not letting you out of my sight again." Eve pointed at Jacob to enforce her point.

"If we stick together, he's got us." Jacob through his hands to the side. "This doesn't work unless someone distracts Mr. Stompy."

"Fine. I'll distract him." Eve moved to stand by the exit.

"On your own, you don't stand a chance. And if he kills you, then he's gonna chase us down."

"So, we send these two in alone?" Eve pointed back to Cassandra and Ezekiel.

"Jacob and Eve keep the Minotaur's attention on you. I'll be back up for Cassandra and Ezekiel." I stepped in, not impressed with being overlooked and we didn't have much more time to argue the minitour was coming and our protection was down.

"Cassandra to find the center, me to grab the thread. Harrison to fill in the gaps." Ezekiel agreed. "It's the only way. You can't protect us all."

"How much time do you need?" Eve relented, guestering for Jacob to follow her.

"10 minutes to find the center." Cassandra calculated

"Five to crack the case holding the thread." Ezekiel tagged on.

"15 minutes, check. Don't jump the gun. Don't lose the bull. And don't stray off the path. Good hunting." Was Eve's final parting before the due disappeared round the corner.

"7 times 7 is 49. 49 times 7 is 343." Cassandra was muttering numbers but had a good hold of herself as we followed her through the maze.

"Wait. It's here. It's right here." She pointed at a concealed door, taking us back into the more ancient looking labyrinth.

"Good for math." Ezekiel laughed bouncing on his toes.

"Seven points on a heptagon. Seven is a mersenne prime. Two to the third minus one equals seven." Cassandra had come to a stop. "I... I can't do it. No, I can't do it. Seven dimensions. It's... it's too much. I can't."

"Seven's nothing." Ezekiel disagreed.

"Mm-hmm." Cassandra looked at Ezekiel.

"Leaves you with, what, three fingers? I once stole a gun out of a cop's hand using three fingers." I raised my eyebrow at Ezekiel, interesting story, only problem is are resident thief didn't like hurting people, so what did he do with the gun.

"Stone was right. You can't trust me. I let everyone down."

"If I was in your shoes, with that thing growing in my head, I'd have sold everybody out for a cure, too. The only difference is, I would have stuck the landing, let Flynn die, let the Serpent Brotherhood win, let the world burn. But you didn't. Yeah, you screwed people over, but you didn't let them down." I'm sure Ezekiel morals would have kicked in eventually, but he really didn't know any of us back then

"He's right you know. We all have turning points Cassandra, weak spots that are used against us. You know what yours is now and you beat it, so stop letting it hold you back and find another way."

"I just can't hold it, though. It's too much."

"So, close your eyes. Focus on your other senses." I ordered her.

"My other senses and I don't get along so well. Brain grape." She tapped her head.

"So, we'll be your other senses. Shut your eyes and see the map inside your head. we'll lead you through." Ezekiel took her hand with a reassuring smile.

"You really trust me to do that?" Cassandra looked between the two of us.

"I'm the thief that bails on everybody and he's the Man none of you believe. Pretty sure you're the one trusting us." Ezekiel pointed out, Cassandra looked slightly ashamed at her flaw in her belief in me being pointed out.

"Okay." She Sighed and closed her eyes "We need to go down and to the left."

"That's good. Good. Good." Ezekiel hesitated slightly but took lead guiding Cassandra with his hand, every time she stopped to think.

"You did it." We had stepped inside a room that looked like Eve's photos "We made it. Oh." Cassandra fell over.

"You okay?" I knelt down in front of her.

"Yeah. Go." she waved at Ezekiel. "I just need to count down from seven. Seven is violet. Six is indigo. Five is blue."

"Shut down the tasers, pop the case, and grab the thread." he opened a panel on the wall as he spoke. "Four... Five minutes is all we need."

A gun cocked, drawing our attention to a woman, the CEO from the meeting I assume, as she walked between us." You don't have it. Who are you?"

"We're the Librarians." Ezekiel sighed offering his and to the woman. "We accept your surrender."

"There's only one Librarian, and you are not him. But something has changed. There's more magic in the world, more power to our sacrifices. Golden Axe, in one form or another, has been sacrificing innocents to the labyrinth for 3,000 years and we have never seen a stock bump like we got off our last offering." I rolled my eyes and stood up, leaving a hand available to Cassandra to pull herself up. Honestly bad guys love monologues.

"You are the first modern people to reach the center. No intern has ever managed that. Kids today, there's no initiative. You're a more old-fashioned, ritual-sacrifice kind of person. I single-handedly modernized the process. I said, "let's amortize." Spread the sacrifices out over the year instead of doing them all at once. Increases the overhead, but the decrease in visibility means the return on investment is even higher on a per-intern basis."

"Hey, you got to spend money to make money. I get it. Let's say we all part as friends." Ezekiel agreed stepping away from the panel having disabled the alarm. I caught his eye and looked over to the exhibits.

"You know, I'm not sure if shooting you here counts towards our 14 or if the Minotaur has to make the kill itself. I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I see the market returns."

"Oh! Hey!" Ezekiel called grapping the nearest artefact, drawing the women's attention to him and away from us.

"This is delicate." he tossed it, making the woman drop the gun to catch it. "That's good, too." another artefact and the woman completely forgot about me and Cassandra, I nodded at Ezekiel, not he just needed to run.

"Come on, then." Ezekiel smiles cockily at the CEO as he picked up the thread.

"Give me that thread." she demanded. "If you drop it, we're all doomed."

"Uh, any ideas?" Ezekiel asked hopeful?

"Jenkins. He said that magic depends on symbols. What better symbol of our labyrinth than a straight line wrapped around and around and around itself?" Cassandra caught on.

"Here, catch." Ezekiel tossed one more artefact and headed for the exit, ball of thread in hand.

"No!" the CEO gave chase as the labrythin started collapsing in on itself, the beast rumbling and grunting.

[Wind blowing] [Gasping]

"The labyrinth. The labyrinth!" CEO cried out [Wind blowing]

With the woman gone, Ezekiel reappeared, dropping down from the door way. "Come on." he offered his hand to Cassandra who had looked crushed thinking the Thief had left them. We tossed the ball of thread through the door way and followed it's lose end back into the Library

"We made it." Cassandra cheered as the doors closed behind us.

"Yeah. You did. This time, you did." Eve smiled, but didn't won't the librarians getting ahead of themselves. I just smiled and their victory, it was about time Cassandra starting working with the team a bit better, now they just had to accept me.

"Okay." Cassandra seamed slightly put off by Eve's words but Ezekiel was having none of it.

"Should have seen her. No hiding, took the fight right to the big bad." Cassandra never the type of person to just take a compliment through one back at him.

"And Ezekiel, I mean, he did kind of save the day by bailing on me."

"Told you. I don't do punchy." Ezekiel shrugged. I cocked my head to the side, maybe I should teach Ezekiel some martial arts, just small things to get out of fights, he's slippery as it is, just needed some refinement.

"Well done. May I?" Jenkins asked for the thread. Now, without this to serve as a power source, the labyrinth should shrivel up and wink out of existence, eventually." he rolled the ball between his hands.

"We ought to lock that up." Eve almost glared at the ball.

"Yes, well, we don't have the facilities of the main library, but I'll think of something."

"What about Willis? I mean, I know we stopped her, but shouldn't she go to jail or something for what she did to Henry Birch and the others?" Cassandra was quite the bleeding heart. That was definitely a personality trait that was going to annoy me over the months.

"I wouldn't worry about Ms. Willis. She imprisoned a Minotaur... nasty creatures. Hold a grudge." Jenkins just shrugged. Willis wasn't getting out unscathed, she would properly suther the same fate her victims did.

"Hey. Look, um, things got a little heated in there." with Cassandra's question answered she clearly decided she wanted to clear the air as she turned to Stone. Everyone else split up, me and Ezekiel on one end of the office, Jacob and Cassandra the other. I wonder if they realised how much of their conversation we could hear from here. Jenkins had disappeared with the thread, Eve was by the door flipping through a book.

"Don't worry about it." Stone tried to brush it off, but this little adventure seemed to have given Cassandra confidence.

"I'm not. I'm kind of worried about what you said to me. You know, if we're gonna work together, you're gonna need to trust... "

"Nobody knows." Jacob cut her off. "Nobody back home knows about this. I have kept it a secret... for 20 years." he gave a general encompassing motion to include not just the life of the Librarian but that of an intelligent auther.

"Why would you hide that? You're a genius. You know about culture and art and beautiful things." Cassandra blinked confused, her family dynamic very different to the rest of us, having grown up close to her parents thanks to her tumour.

"I told you before. Family ain't ever easy. You don't... no. That's enough for now. Look…. point is. I'm used to keeping my life separated. Alright? My family, my friends… uh… I love them… I like them… ah… I have no problem working alongside them, any of them… but I don't trust a single one of them… to tell them… can you even imagine meeting Flynn. Meeting you. Meeting Baird. Being introduced to Harrison. And the… thief… finding out about this library. Finding people, I could trust… and you know how that felt?" Great, his willing to work through is issue with Cassandra but me and Ezekiel that's going to take more work.

"I do. I really do." Cassandra answered the rhetorical question. Ezekiel grimaced and looked over at me, I shook my head, give them a minute before interrupting.

"...and then to have it broken. I like you Cassie. There's no way around it. I just do. But I trusted you. I don't know. And I learnt my lesson. And it's not… look, it always ends bad. So… old ways best." Jacob concluded, I rolled my shoulders and let Ezekiel stride forward to wrap is arms over the other two's shoulders. So, for future reference Jacob had trust issues a mile long, Cassandra was shy and self-contuse whilst Ezekiel knew his strength and weakness, he had no plans to change. Eve also had issues with control which was a bad thing considering she was a guardian. Basically, this team was very close to braking and they had barely been together. It was going to take a lot of work.

"So, end of day, not too bad for a first time out, was it?" Ezekiel asked bring the mood back up.

"You did okay. I... I could do better. I spent my entire adult life in the military. Everybody fits into a box. You don't. You're not assets to be protected. You're not soldiers I can order around. I don't know what you are." Well at least one of them were working on correcting their issues, none of the others were going to make much progress if Eve kept holding them back.

"Well, maybe the term you're looking for is 'partners.'" Jacob offered.

"Fair enough."

"Can you go back to the part where you said we were awesome?" Ezekiel not happy with the continues Depy downers.

"I said you did okay." Eve corrected.

"Yeah, but I'm gonna take that as we rule. Mostly me. You guys were... okay." Ezekiel tagged on the end.

""Okay"? I did math." Cassandra pointed out annoyed.

"True. Pointsformath."Ezekeilpointed at her, smiling. "Stone, though, you mostly just got beat up." Jacob sighed but didn't corrected him, good they were getting along. "I do rule." Ezekiel declared happily.

**Twintigerlover **

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